Medical pot foes take victory lap in Sarasota

Opponents of legalizing medical marijuana in Florida took a victory lap on Tuesday during a law enforcement-related summit at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota hotel.

Amid several panel discussions regarding laws and enforcement, a group led by State Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, convened to consider “Amendment 2: Why medical marijuana failed in Florida and what does it portend for the future?”

“I thought more people would see this as what it was — an expansion of recreational use,” said Baxley, who was one of only seven state representatives who voted against allowing the use of noneuphoric medical marijuana extract to be used to treat epileptic children and others.

A proposed state constitutional amendment, Amendment 2, would have allowed medical marijuana to treat conditions such as cancer and glaucoma. But it was narrowly defeated by voters in early November, when the measure failed by a slim margin to garner a necessary 60 percent support.

The Justice Summit panel on the defeat of Amendment 2 comes just days after backers of the amendment have regrouped and announced plans to bring forward another amendment in 2016, a presidential election year.

At the same time, United for Care and Orlando attorney John Morgan said last week they hope to convince state lawmakers to enact bills into law that would render a constitutional amendment unnecessary.

But at Tuesday’s panel discussion at the Justice Summit, opponents of the amendment were in abundance.

They included Calvina Fay, head of St. Petersburg-based Drug Free America; Steve Casey, executive director of the Florida Sheriffs Association; Seminole County Sheriff Donald Eslinger; Tre Evers, an Orlando political consultant who crafted the “Vote No on 2” campaign; and Nanette Schimpf, whose communications firm assisted the Florida sheriffs’ group in creating a “Don’t Let Florida Go to Pot” coalition and website.

Evers said he was not at all surprised that initial poll results from Quinnippiac University showed nearly 90 percent of Floridians supported medical marijuana.

That poll, he said, asked voters whether they would approve a measure allowing their doctors to prescribe marijuana. Evers noted the amendment called not for prescriptions, but recommendations.

Panelists also said their anti-legalization campaign was aided by groups who might favor use of marijuana but who are against the format of a constitutional amendment.

Panelists like Baxley also showed opposition to non-euphoric medical marijuana extract, also known as Charlotte’s Web.

“It may also be the rifle shot that begins an avalanche,” he said during hearings on the issue. “I do not have the stomach to pull that trigger.”

Though the bill passed, nearly a year later the state Department of Health has been unable to implement the “Florida Compassionate Care Act of 2014” because of wrangling over regulations the agency wrote.

As a result, nurseries and related businesses that had hoped to apply to become one of the five regional monopolies to produce the extract have so far been unable to even apply.

When proponents launched their new medical marijuana proposal last week, Morgan made it clear backers hope to force the legislature into action.

“Practically, they may think that through,” Morgan said of lawmakers. “We have a pretty reasonable group of leadership.”

But if the legislature does act, Casey and others believe it may not be in the form of a new bill.